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“Is this the
Children residence?”
Taken somewhat by
surprise, G8 tilted his head to the side as he perched his hands on
his hips. “I’m Deputy Sheriff Children. How can I help you?” He
hoped the bluff worked. Although he wasn’t officially a deputy, with
luck the man would believe him, especially if he put on a good
enough show.
“I’m Cord Ricks.
I’m from Tibbaly, just down the road.” The man pointed to his truck.
“I have a load of secondhand furniture and other stuff the townsfolk
donated that they thought you could use. We heard about you and
decided to help. We’re not rich, but we wanted to give what we
could.”
“G8, there’s
someone else in the truck. Maybe more. I heard that funny cell phone
sound, like the kind Cydney’s made,” P8 whispered.
G8 straightened,
crossing his arms over his chest. “Who else is with you?” he
demanded of the man.
There was a
slight, telling hesitation. “I’m by myself,” Ricks replied. “I was
hoping some of you would be here to help me unload.”
The faint sound of
a telephone ringing came from behind them. N8 turned as if to go
inside and answer it, but G8 waved him off. “It could be one of
them,” T8 murmured, as though he’d read G8’s mind. N8 nodded. If the
phone was meant to be a distraction, it wasn’t going to work.
Giving the
stranger his stoniest glare, G8 remarked, “You do know we can tell
when you’re lying to us, don’t you? So I will ask this one last
time. Who else is with you?”
Ricks closed his
mouth and refused to answer, but it was clear the guy was terrified
of something.
“We know you’re in
the vehicle!” G8 shouted. “Unless you want to be charged with
trespassing, show yourselves now!”
A movement came
from the bed of the truck. A man dressed in a pair of dark blue
coveralls jumped over the side and strode up to join the other man.
“Something tells
me you’re not from Tibbaly,” G8 drily commented.
“No, I’m not. I’m
from the Rexxt Corporation.”
G8 felt the others
behind him tense up at the name. This game had gone on long enough.
It was time to call it off.
“You’re
trespassing,” he bluntly said. “Get your ass off our property. Now.”
“Not before you
return what is rightfully not yours.”
Although he had a
notion what the man was inferring to, he wanted to hear it himself.
“What exactly do we have of yours?”
“You have two
young children that aren’t biologically yours.”
Like the others,
G8 knew there was no point in trying to deny they had the babies. He
opened his mouth to ask him why the guy believed they were in
possession, but was cut off.
“How do you know
that?” P8 challenged. “Are you one hundred percent sure one of us
isn’t the father?”
The guy looked
taken aback by the question. Obviously, he had expected them to
reject his claim, but not this way.
N8 picked up the
thread. “For that matter, are you
their parent or legal guardian? Can you prove you have the right to
claim them?”
“And another
thing,” T8 chimed in. “Do you honestly expect us to take your word
for what you claim at face value? Where’s your identification? And
how the hell were you planning on getting back to wherever it is you
were going to take them?” He gestured toward the vehicle. “I don’t
see no car seats for them.”
“There’s another,”
P8 softly informed them.
“Better tell
whoever else is with you to get the fuck out of that truck,” G8
darkly ordered. “I hope you don’t think we’re stupid enough to
believe you’re all alone, and that you were going to march back to
whatever hole you emerged from with two newborn babies in your
arms.”
“I have colleagues
waiting for me.”
“You have squat
here where it counts,” N8
threw back at him with disdain.
The man seemed to
draw some courage from within, and he lifted his chin. “This is your
last warning, Deputy Children.”
“And
this is your
last warning, asshole!” G8 shot back. “You have
no right to be on this property! So unless you
want us to hand you your scrawny ass, do an about-face and haul it
out of here!”
“Not until we get
what we came for,” a second voice said. A second man emerged from
behind the truck and took a stance on the other side. He carried a
gun in his right hand, and he made sure the rest of them noticed it. |